GREENVILLE, Ill. - St. Norbert College swept a pair of matches in a tri-match at Greenville University's Long Gymnasium.
The Green Knights (8-9) topped Greenville 3-1 (26-28, 25-13, 25-13, 25-21) and then defeated Franklin College 3-1 (25-13, 24-26, 25-19, 25-20).
Against Greenville, the first set featured 13 ties and four lead changes, with the Green Knights holding two set points in a deuce situation. Greenville rallied from the latter to go on a 3-0 run to take a 1-0 lead. St. Norbert responded by never trailing in the second set, seeing an 8-6 lead balloon into a 19-11 advantage. Greenville led 6-4 in Set 3 before a 15-2 St. Norbert run put the Green Knights in control with a 2-1 lead. In Set 4, St. Norbert trailed 11-7 before getting back into it with a 4-0 run. The Green Knights took the lead for good after an 18-18 tie saw a 3-0 mini-run to get enough breathing room to close out the win.
St. Norbert hit .265, getting 47 kills against 20 errors in 102 attempts.
Noah Cullen (pictured) whacked 18 kills, while
Jacob Van Ooyen had eight kills.
Barry Applewhite and
Kaden Kornaus had seven kills apiece.
Michael Whitney finished with 40 assists and two service aces.
Cam Doty had three service aces, while
Zach Hanse added two.
Van Ooyen had nine digs, Kornaus eight and
Ryan Conway seven. Appletwhite had six blocks, while Cullen and
Nikola Zlatkovic had five each.
Against Franklin, St. Norbert never trailed in Set 1 behind a 15-5 start. The Green Knights battled the Grizzles close throughout Set 2, catching up at 24-24 before Franklin scored the last two points for a 1-1 tie. St. Norbert led for most of Set 3 before Franklin closed to within 19-18 and 20-19, but the Green Knights closed out the set on a 5-0 finishing kick. The Green Knights recovered from an early 8-2 deficit in Set 4, eventually leading 13-12 and never trailing after that point.
St. Norbert hit .229, getting 46 kills against 19 errors in 118 attempts. Cullen had a team-high 10 kills, while
Kade Nelson and Doty had eight apiece and Applewhite added seven.
Ethan Grassl finished with 24 assists. Nelson had three service aces, with Grassl and
Mat Masiclat adding two each.
Hanse had nine digs, with Kornaus, Doty and
Jack Perhach getting seven apiece.
Wade La Blanc and
Sam Dalmann had three blocks apiece.
